Ophelia

Lisa Klein

Dec 2008 · Bloomsbury Publishing USA

About this ebook

NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE!

If you think you know Ophelia and Hamlet's story, think again...
"A spellbinding tale of love, murder, and revenge." -- VOYA

As ambitious and witty as she is beautiful, Ophelia is quick to catch the eye of the captivating prince Hamlet. Their love blossoms in secret, but bloody deeds soon turn Denmark into a place of madness, and Ophelia may be forced to choose between her relationship and her own life. In desperation, she devises a plan to escape from Elsinore Castle forever... with one very dangerous secret.

Ophelia takes center stage in this bold and thrilling reimagining of Shakespeare's famous tragedy, the story of a young woman falling in love, searching for her place in the world, and finding the strength to survive.

Ratings and reviews

Ophelia lives with her father and brother due to the fact that her mothe died when she was young. Her father is always trying to gain a place in court and one day he finally achieves it. he does not get exactly got he had expected but something is better than nothing. During Ophelia's first visit to the castle the queen shows great interest in her however, Ophelia's attention is drawn to the young Prince Hamlet. Very soon her brother joins the young prince's companion and she gets to see him more often. Amazingly enough the only times the prince seems to notice Ophelia is when she is doing something embarrassing.As she gets older one o her brother's friends begins to take notice of her and not in a good way. Ophelia is enjoying a swim when this boy tries to scare her however Hamlet appears all of a sudden and helps her. The queen then invites her to become part of her court. there young Ophelia begins to develope into a more civilized woman. Hamlet goes away to study abroad for a couple of years with his friend Horatio. Upon their return Hamlet begins to show great interest in her tand they both fall in love due to her lowly place in court she cannot see the prince in public. However they soon become more involved and finally got married in secret. Horatio was the only one present when they exchanged vows and helped them through any difficulties. However King Hamlet is very soon killed and haunts Prince Hamlet telling him his death must be avenged. Nearly driven mad by this Hamlet swears revenge on his uncle the new king. Ophelia tries all she can to dissaude him from this but he won't listen to anybody. in a ploy to reveal their love for each other and pronounce that they are now married making Ophelia, his wife and princess. However this all goes completely wrong. In an act which Hamlet himself directed he sends a secret message letting the king know of

Ophelia is born in the village of Elsinore. Her mother died giving birth, and her father is always not at their home for days while with the king. So Ophelia's older brother becomes her playmate and protector. They swim in the river, explore in the forest and run wild in the streets with other children. Their father does hire a tutor for Ophelia's brother, and though girls at those time usually are not educated, Ophelia gets to learn as well, just to keep her out of trouble.Her life changes when Ophelia turns eight. Her father finally gets a job working for King Hamlet, and the three of them move to Elsinore Castle.Living at the Castle is so very different from their old life in the village. Ophelia and her brother soon meet the king and queen at a banquet, along with their son, Prince Hamlet who is around the same age as Ophelia's brother and the prince often engage in wrestling, archery and sword dueling. As Ophelia gets a little older, the queen takes notice and invites Ophelia to be her attandent. When the queen find out that Ophelia is well educated Ophelia becomes one of the queen’s favoured attendant.The queen isn't the only one who notices Ophelia getting older alas Prince Hamlet as well. But because she never would be accepted as a suitable match, Hamlet and Ophelia must keep their love a secret. With the help of Hamlet's trusted friend, Horatio, they dress as poor villager and meet away from the castle in the orchards, gardens and an abandoned cottage. After a while Prince hamlet and Ophelia gets married in secret with the witnesss if horatio.But before they can gather the courage to announce their marriage, the king is murdered!Overcome with anger and grief, Hamlet becomes totally obsessed with discovering his father's killer and forgets his new bride. Ophelia falls into deep despair. But when the murderer begins to suspect that he or she may be exposed, Ophelia decides that her existence is worth saving and must escape for her very life. I’ll leave that ending unrevealed, for you to read and enjoy. By: Jayahnissha Jayavelu

When I first started reading this book I loved it. The chemistry between Hamlet and Ophelia was there and it was definitely interesting. It’s a total different take on the play and an interesting view on the characters within. It was interesting how background information is provided (as how Ophelia and Hamlet met for the first time) and how they spent their childhood years. So although it does deviate from the original play it’s not so much or goes too far out of context. For a while at least. The parts with Ophelia and Hamlet in love are well done. As mentioned before the chemistry is there and Hamlet stays true as there is definitely emotion and passion. I do have a problem with Ophelia later on. She becomes needy and really clingy. It got annoying and although there’s lots of miscommunication between her and Hamlet, all she really had to do was ask him what the problem was instead of whining about it constantly and forgetting about it when he started to “act” normal. Hamlet did sort of reveal his agenda to Ophelia, but perhaps he didn’t spell it out for her and she just assumed Hamlet stopped loving her altogether. For crying out loud Ophelia. You were raised like a tomboy and that sort of thing affected you when you could have just approached Hamlet and even punched him if you wanted to? That kind of contrast was a little too outrageous for me. I found Laertes different. I never really expected him to be quite the jerk portrayed in the book and always thought of him as an older brother who was protective towards Ophelia. I thought that was a little skewed. So, I have to say, the first half of the book was good. Despite some character flaws with Ophelia. The little twist with her finding out who really murdered the King was good, and her relationship with Gertrude proved interesting as well. However Gertrude also got moody, and whiny. It was as if the female characters just suddenly developed a syndrome to become this way all throughout the novel. Of all the characters in the book though, I really liked Horatio, he seems to be the only character that stays constant and true throughout the entire book without the severe personality changes. Now we get to the last half. I can’t believe I actually went through with it too. I admit the alternate ending to Ophelia’s fate was rather interesting but the story just went to a halt and started to crawl. There were pages and pages of Ophelia’s time at a convent which did nothing to advance to plot and had me baffled as to wondering where this was going. It was borderline preachy as Ophelia tries to “find” herself while her time at the convent. I didn’t care for this part. In fact I skimmed through most of it because it was extremely boring. I actually skimmed the last 50 or so pages until the very last few to see the outcome of Ophelia. I rather figured it would end up that way, as the book slightly hinted at it. It was satisfactory, but reading dozens of boring pages isn’t worth it. Also the theme of revenge is just so overdone in this book. Sure, it’s the main theme, but it’s just so overplayed and over exaggerated it makes the emotion fake. So, would I recommend this? yes, and no. Yes, if you’re not a Shakespeare fan. You might just enjoy it. No if you’re a very perfectionist type and love Shakespeare. Like me you’d probably wonder who is this whiny girl (who is also a tomboy) and what has she done to Ophelia. Also, the last half of the book might just put you off of the whole thing. It’s very frustrating and unfortunate as it has good potential but just fell apart. It could have definitely been better.

About the author

Lisa Klein, a former English professor, is the author of five historical novels for teen readers. She lives in Columbus, Ohio.